Robbery Prevented

Thanks to a notice in the Travel Section we were able to save a family from Oregon from being robbed in Paris in June. While waiting in line for the Louvre we struck up a conversation with the family, whose name we did not get. They had been living in Switzerland, and were on holiday. Suddenly three young children (Dickens would have called them urchins) appeared, a boy and two girls. They held out printed flyers to distract us. At first it seemed that they were begging, but then the boy held his paper up to the man's face and the girls at once jumped the man from behind.

Luckily, we both instantly recalled the same m.o. being reported in the Tuileries, and began to shout, at which point the children ran away. We were told that because they are so young the police have difficulty dealing with this band of pickpockets.

And just a week ago in Madrid we witnessed a robbery on the Gran Via just off the Callao. Waiters at cafes in the Plaza Mayor suggest that handbags, men's as well as women's, be securely attached to the arm of one's chair. And tour guides suggest that men keep their wallets in their front pants pockets.